Martian Sand Dunes Movement Compared To Earth Sand Dunes Movement

It is very obvious that there is a lot of difference between Earth’s atmosphere and Mars’ atmosphere as seen in the recent research, the atmosphere at Mars is so thin that the pressure of the atmosphere is just 0.6% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure at sea level. If we compare the sediment movement on Mars from Earth than it was found that they move more slowly than Earth’s sediments. The dunes in the Mars are seen ranging from 6 to 400 feet tall and they creep at an average speed of two feet per Earth year. Dunes on Earth such as the dunes in North Africa mover at 100 feet per year.

Lead author of the study Dr. Matthew Chojnacki, a researcher in the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona, “On Mars, there simply is not enough wind energy to move a substantial amount of material around on the surface. It might take two years on Mars to see the same movement you’d typically see in a season on Earth.” Geologists have been studying and arguing over Martian dunes as some geologists think that the dunes on Mars were relics from past as the atmosphere was much thicker or the sand dunes today on Mars still reshapes according to the planet’s face.

Dr. Chojnacki said, “We wanted to know: is the movement of sand uniform across the planet, or is it enhanced in some regions over others? We measured the rate and volume at which dunes are moving on Mars.” The researchers studied the images which were clicked by the HiRISE camera which is situated on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. By using the images, researchers studied the images to locate the mapped sand volumes, dune migration rates and heights for 54 dune fields, encompassing 495 individual dunes. Dr. Chojnacki said, “A bright basin reflects the sunlight and heats up the air above much more quickly than the surrounding areas, where the ground is dark, so the air will move up the basin toward the basin rim, driving the wind, and with it, the sand.”